Susquehanna sweeps Blue Jays for Landmark crown

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – For the second time in three years, the Susquehanna baseball team is the Landmark Conference Champion. The Crusaders secured their second-ever Landmark title with Saturday's 10-4 win over Elizabethtown.

SU earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the bracket to be released Monday.

Saturday's win not only secured the team a trip to the NCAA Tournament, it also marked the team's 28th victory of the fall, just two shy of tying the program record of 30 victories set by the 2014 league championship team.

Catcher Zach Leone was named Tournament MVP as he went 5-for-9 with three RBI and two runs scored over the two games.

Saturday's game was tied at two until the bottom of the sixth when Susquehanna scored three runs. The team went on to score five more runs over the final two innings to clinch the 10-4 victory.

Dylan Jenkins went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored while Danny Gordon had two hits, two RBI and one run scored.

The Crusaders (28-14) jumped out to a 2-0, first-inning lead after a Dylan Jenkins sacrifice fly and Bryan Palsi's RBI single to center.

It remained a 2-0 SU lead until the top of the sixth. A fielder's choice allowed Elizabethtown's first run to score and Brennan Snyder's two-out single through the left side sent home the tying run.

The Crusaders immediately responded by plating three runs in their half of the sixth. Dylan Glassmire singled to left center and Jenkins scored on the throw for a 3-2 SU lead. Gordon followed with a two-run single through the right side to give Susquehanna a three-run cushion (5-2).

The Blue Jays (25-19) immediately got two of those runs back on Colby Smith's two-run single to left center to make it 5-4 after 6 ½ innings of play.

Those marked the final runs of the afternoon for Elizabethtown. Susquehanna added a run in the seventh thanks to an Elizabethtown fielding error that made it 6-2 before breaking through for four runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Leone came up with the big hit of the inning, a three-run homer to right field that made it 9-4. Jenkins followed with a single to right field that scored SU's 10th and final run of the day.

Conboy worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to retire the next three batters in order and clinch the conference title for SU.